We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adell Kirkwood III. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adell below.
Hi Adell, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
This is a great question! My entrpreneur journey started back in 2007. I’ve always felt deeply connected with an entrepreneurial spirit. I first saw this with my Aunt Clara Wilson, who ran and still runs a successful daycare. I also witnessed my Dad running a successful barbershop. When I saw these two working for themselves, actually making money, I knew that’s the path I wanted to follow. So, in 2007 I started a clothing line/t-shirt business named Thurobread Threads. This business lasted for a couple of years but I just didn’t feel like it was something I wanted to do full time. I then transitioned to Corporate America, where I flourished in the Quality Assurance and animal vaccine production sector. To be honest. I LOVED the fact that I created antigens for the animal vaccines. This was about the time of the H1N1 spread. I felt like I was genuinely making a difference in the world. I later moved on to Managing the Quality Department for Kelloggs KC. I was there for 3 years when I realized that I was not serving the purpose I was on this earth for. That led me to take a leap of faith at becoming an official businessman. My first brick and mortar business was a barbershop that I planned on operating with my Dad. My vision didn’t come full circle as I intended for it to be. Unfortunately I had to shut the business down after 1.5 years. I never allowed that to discourage me from finding my true purpose. I then obtained my real estate license and dove into the housing market. I can admit I didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities giving to me to flourish in real estate. I allowed my own expectations of family and friends to boost my involvement instead of broadening my own reach. I still didn’t give up. Knowing I had a love for preparing and consuming delicious meals, my cousin Mark Solomon and I started a mobile catering company in 2019 called Kookin’ Cousins Catering LLC. Our passion was easily felt the first time you took a bite of our food! We started off delivery meals out of our vehicle to local barber and beauty shops in Kansas City. Shout out to Smoother Image, Sportsman and Leenaj Beauty and Barber. We decided to scale up operations and offer full service catering options to the business model. After launching the catering service we were approached by Heartland Coca Cola to cater an employee appreciation lunch. Our name started circulating in the Kansas City area and we were enjoying the appreciation we received. Unfortunately, Mark had to step away from the business to focus more on his family, which was very understandable. At the same time there was no way I was gong to let this business just fall to the waist side. I decided to keep going, then of course the pandemic hit! With large gatherings being shut down, there went the catering request. I had to find other avenues to keep the business going so, I decided to bottle our seasonings and salsas to help keep the revenue coming in to the business. This helped until the gathering restrictions were lifted. Once we were able to go back to full scale we noticed that we were using a commissary kitchen that didn’t offer all the things we felt other culinary artist would love to have at their disposal. We wanted things like ghost kitchen, tastings, podcasts and Kookin’ Classes. We decided to open our own commissary kitchen named Kookin’ Cousins Kitchens LLC. At our location we are offering all the things culinary artist need to bring their vision to life! I said all of that to say, when I first started my entrepreneurial journey, I started businesses out of “like” and not out of “LOVE!” Once I figured that out the path has been clear and pathed. We have since started a nonprofit for the youth in our community named A Kid & A Kitchen, which provides culinary Kookin’ Classes for the youth in our community, with the emphasis on health and literacy!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Currently I’m the owner of Kookin Cousins Kitchens and Co Founder of A Kid & A Kitchen. I’ve always felt the desire to give back and teach the next generation. We can’t have a future without enriching the youth coming up behind us! Research shows how much junk food and fast food that is consumed by the youth. With parents working hard and sometimes multiple jobs, we know its hard for kids to get a continuous dose of healthy meals. Chef Jayaun and myself collaborated and creating Youth Kookin’ Classes with the emphasis on health and literacy. By providing a creative, fun and healthy way to learn culinary art we felt literacy was something we also should focus on. Kids will have to learn how to read recipes, apply math for measuring ingredients and learn the science behind the food we eat. A Kid & A Kitchen will provide a space for them to accomplish much needed life skills that will carry with them their entire lives.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first jewel I found out about was, your success depends on what you put into your craft. The second jewel was your passion should stem from something you LOVE and not something you like for the moment.
Lastly, I decided to chase the passion and not the money! Charles Davis Sr., with the Urban League of Kansas City, spoke this to us while discussing our nonprofit to him! It has stuck with me til this day!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We can’t be what this community needs without the help of sponsors and partnerships from our community and nationwide! Being a nonprofit we are dependent on the generosity of our community and others! Youth organizations, food and beverage companies, local and national government agencies and schools are a great fit to partner with. If you’re looking to be a sponsor or partner please email us at [email protected]. You can also make donations at www.akidandakitchen.org. We are currently running a Go Fund Me campaign, where everyone can help our first stage of our nonprofit. https://gofund.me/
Contact Info:
- Website: www.akidandakitchen.org
- Instagram: akidandakitchenkc
- Facebook: A Kid and A Kitchen
- Twitter: A Kid & A Kitchen
Image Credits
Chef Jay logo provided by Chef Jayaun Smith (Private Chef)
